Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A new Ordovician arthropod from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa (USA) reveals the ground plan of eurypterids and chasmataspidids

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
The Science of Nature Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Euchelicerates were a major component of Palaeozoic faunas, but their basal relationships are uncertain: it has been suggested that Xiphosura—xiphosurids (horseshoe crabs) and similar Palaeozoic forms, the synziphosurines—may not represent a natural group. Basal euchelicerates are rare in the fossil record, however, particularly during the initial Ordovician radiation of the group. Here, we describe Winneshiekia youngae gen. et sp. nov., a euchelicerate from the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa, USA. Winneshiekia shares features with both xiphosurans (a large, semicircular carapace and ophthalmic ridges) and dekatriatan euchelicerates such as chasmataspidids and eurypterids (an opisthosoma of 13 tergites). Phylogenetic analysis resolves Winneshiekia at the base of Dekatriata, as sister taxon to a clade comprising chasmataspidids, eurypterids, arachnids, and Houia. Winneshiekia provides further support for the polyphyly of synziphosurines, traditionally considered the stem lineage to xiphosurid horseshoe crabs, and by extension the paraphyly of Xiphosura. The new taxon reveals the ground pattern of Dekatriata and provides evidence of character polarity in chasmataspidids and eurypterids. The Winneshiek Lagerstätte thus represents an important palaeontological window into early chelicerate evolution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken D (1969) Photoperiod, endocrinology and the crustacean molt cycle. Science 164:149–155

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson LI, Selden PA (1997) Opisthosomal fusion and phylogeny of Palaeozoic Xiphosura. Lethaia 30:19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson LI, Poschmann M, Brauckmann C (1998) On the Emsian (Lower Devonian) arthropods of the Rhenish Slate Mountains: 2. The synziphosurine Willwerathia. Paläont Z 72:325–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botting J, Muir LA, Jordan N, Upton C (2015) An Ordovician variation on Burgess Shale-type biotas. Scientific Reports 5(9947):1–11. doi:10.1038/srep09947

  • Botting J, Muir LA, Sutton MD, Barnie T (2011) Welsh gold: a new exceptionally preserved pyritized Ordovician biota. Geology 39:879–882

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brauer A (1895) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Skorpiones, II. Z Wiss Zool 59:351–433

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremer K (1994) Branch support and tree stability. Cladistics 10:295–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs DEG, Liu HP, McKay RM, Witzke BJ (in press) Bivalved arthropods from the Middle Ordovician Winneshiek Lagerstätte, Iowa, USA. J Paleontol

  • Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Siveter DJ, Sutton MD, Garwood RJ, Legg DA (2012) Silurian horseshoe crab illuminates the evolution of arthropod limbs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:15702–15705

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JA (2002) Arthropods from the Lower Devonian Severnaya Zemlya Formation of October Revolution Island (Russia). Geologija 24:349–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JA (2010) Geological history and phylogeny of Chelicerata. Arthropod Struct Dev 39:124–142

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JA, Selden PA (1997) The early history and phylogeny of the chelicerates. In: Fortey RA, Thomas RH (eds) Arthropod Relationships, vol 55, Systematics Association Special Volume Series. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 221–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JA, Webster M (1999) Fossil evidence, terrestrialization and arachnid phylogeny. J Arachnology 27:86–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JA, Anderson LI, Braddy SJ (2004) A redescription of Chasmataspis laurencii Caster and Brooks, 1956 (Chelicerata: Chasmataspidida) from the Middle Ordovician of Tennessee, USA, with remarks on chasmataspid phylogeny. Trans R Soc Edinb Earth Sci 94:207–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Farley RD (2001) Development of segments and appendages in embryos of the desert scorpion Paruroctonus mesaensis (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae). J Morphol 250:70–88

  • Farrell ÚC, Martin MJ, Hagadorn JW, Whiteley T, Briggs DEG (2009) Beyond Beecher’s Trilobite Bed: widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin. Geology 37:907–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farris JS, Albert VA, Källersjö M, Lipscomb D, Kluge AG (1996) Parsimony jackknifing outperforms neighbor-joining. Cladistics 12:99–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felsenstein J (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 39:783–791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fusco G, Hughes NC, Webster M, Minelli A (2004) Exploring developmental modes in a fossil arthropod: growth and trunk segmentation of the trilobite Aulacopleura konincki. Amer Nat 163:167–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garwood RJ, Dunlop JA (2014) Three-dimensional reconstruction and the phylogeny of extinct chelicerate orders. PeerJ 2(e641):1–33. doi:10.7717/peerj.641

    Google Scholar 

  • Goloboff PA, Farris JA, Nixon KC (2008) TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24:774–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haug C, Van Roy P, Leipner A, Funch P, Rudkin DM, Schöllmann L, Haug JT (2012) A holomorph approach to xiphosuran evolution–a case study on the ontogeny of Euproops. Dev Genes Evol 222:253–268

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heymons R (1901) Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Scolopender. Zoologica 13:1–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins L, Rankin MA (2001) Mortality risk of rapid growth in the spider Nephila clavipes. Funct Ecol 15:24–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC (2011) The eurypterid Stoermeropterus conicus from the lower Silurian of the Pentland Hills, Scotland. Monogr Palaeontogr Soc 165:1–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC (2013) Revised systematics of Palaeozoic ‘horseshoe crabs’ and the myth of monophyletic Xiphosura. Zool J Linn Soc 167:1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Braddy SJ (2010) Cope’s rule and Romer’s theory: patterns of diversity and gigantism in eurypterids and Palaeozoic vertebrates. Biol Lett 6:265–269

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Braddy SJ, Tetlie OE (2009) Redescription of Drepanopterus abonensis (Chelicerata: Eurypterida: Stylonurina) from the late Devonian of Portishead, UK. Palaeontology 52:1113–1139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Hoşgör İ, Selden PA (2013a) A new Ordovician eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from southeast Turkey: evidence for a cryptic Ordovician record of Eurypterida. Gondwana Res 23:354–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Stein M, Selden PA (2013b) Kodymirus and the case for convergence of raptorial appendages in Cambrian arthropods. Naturwissenschaften 100:811–825

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Xue J, Selden PA (2013c) A horseshoe crab (Arthropoda: Chelicera: Xiphosura) from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Yunnan, China. Geol Mag 150:367–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamsdell JC, Briggs DEG, Liu HP, Witzke BJ, McKay RM (2015) The oldest described eurypterid: a giant Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) megalograptid from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa. BMC Evol Biol 14:159

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu HP, McKay RM, Witzke BJ, Briggs DEG (2009) The Winneshiek Lagerstätte and its depositional environments [in Chinese with English summary]. Geol J China Univs 15:285–295

  • Liu HP, McKay RM, Young JN, Witzke BJ, McVey KJ, Liu X (2007) The Winneshiek Lagerstätte. Acta Palaeontol Sin 46(Supplement):282–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu HP, McKay RM, Young JN, Witzke BJ, McVey KJ, Liu X (2006) A new Lagerstätte from the Middle Ordovician St. Peter Formation in northeast Iowa, USA. Geology 34:969–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maddison WP, Maddison DR (2015) Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. 3.02 edn. http://mesquiteproject.org

  • Marshall DJ, Lamsell JC, Shpinev E, Braddy SJ (2014) A diverse chasmataspidid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) fauna from the Early Devonian (Lochkovian) of Siberia. Palaeontology 57:631–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCoy VE, Brandt DS (2009) Scorpion taphonomy: criteria for distinguishing fossil scorpion molts and carcasses. J Arachnology 37:312–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKay RM, Liu HP, Witzke BJ, French BM, Briggs DEG (2011) Preservation of the Middle Ordovician Winneshiek Shale in a probable impact crater. Geol Soc Am Abst Prog 43:189

    Google Scholar 

  • Minelli A, Fusco G, Hughes NC (2003) Tagmata and segment specification in trilobites. Spec Pap Palaeontol 70:31–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore RA, Briggs DEG, Bartels C (2005) A new specimen of Weinbergina opitzi (Chelicerata: Xiphosura) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Paläontol Z 79:399–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore RA, Briggs DEG, Braddy SJ, Shultz JW (2011) Synziphosurines (Xiphosura: Chelicerata) from the Silurian of Iowa. J Paleontol 85:83–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary MA, Kaufman SG (2012) MorphoBank 3.0: Web application for morphological phylogenetics and taxonomy. http://www.morphobank.org

  • Olesen J (1999) Larval and post-larval development of the branchiopod clam shrimp Cyclestheria hislopi (Baird, 1859) (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Conchostraca, Spinicaudata). Acta Zool 80:163–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peebles B (1978) Molting and mortality in Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Proc World Maric Soc 9:39–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett J (1993) A Late Devonian xiphosuran from near Parkes, New South Wales. Mem Assoc Australas Palaeontol 15:279–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Poschmann M, Anderson LI, Dunlop JA (2005) Chelicerate arthropods, including the oldest phalangiotarbid arachnid, from the Early Devonian (Siegenian) of the Rhenish Massif, Germany. J Paleontol 79:110–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudkin DM, Young GA, Nowlan GS (2008) The oldest horseshoe crab: a new xiphosurid from Late Ordovician Konservat-Lagerstätten deposits, Manitoba, Canada. Palaeontology 51:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selden PA, Lamsdell JC, Liu Q (in press) An unusual euchelicerate linking horseshoe crabs and eurypterids, from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Yunnan, China. Zool Scripta

  • Sepkoski JJ (1981) A factor analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record. Paleobiology 7:36–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton MD, Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Siveter DJ, Orr PJ (2002) The arthropod Offacolus kingi (Chelicerata) from the Silurian of Herefordshire, England: computer based morphological reconstructions and phylogenetic affinities. Proc R Soc B 269:1195–1203

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tetlie OE, Braddy SJ (2004) The first Silurian chasmataspid, Loganamaraspis dunlopi gen. et sp. nov. (Chelicerata: Chasmataspidida) from Lesmahagow, Scotland, and its implications for eurypterid phylogeny. Trans R Soc Edinb Earth Sci 94:227–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Tetlie OE, Moore RA (2004) A new specimen of Paleomerus hamiltoni (Arthropoda: Arachnomorpha). Trans R Soc Edinb Earth Sci 94:195–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Tollerton VP (1989) Morphology, taxonomy, and classification of the order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843. J Paleontol 63:642–657

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Roy P, Briggs DEG (2011) A giant Ordovician anomalocaridid. Nature 473:510–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Roy P (2006) An aglaspidid arthropod from the Upper Ordovician of Morocco with remarks on the affinities and limitations of Aglaspidida. Trans R Soc Edinb Earth Sci 96:327–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Roy P, Daley AC, Briggs DEG (2015) Anomalocaridid trunk limb morphology revealed by a giant filter-feeder with paired flaps. Nature 522:77–80

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Roy P, Orr PJ, Botting JP, Muir LA, Vinther J, Lefebvre B, el Hariri K, Briggs DEG (2010) Ordovician faunas of Burgess Shale type. Nature 465:215–218

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weygoldt P, Paulus HF (1979) Untersuchungen zur Morphologie, Taxonomie und Phylogenie der Chelicerata. Z Zool Systematik Evolutions 17:85–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witzke BJ, McKay RM, Liu HP, Briggs DEG (2011) The Middle Ordovician Winneshiek Shale of northeast Iowa—correlation and paleogeographic implications. Geol Soc Am Abst Prog 43:315

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolter CF, McKay RM, Liu HP, Bounk MJ, Libra RD (2011) Geologic mapping for water quality projects in the Upper Iowa River watershed, vol No. 54. Iowa Geological and Water Survey Technical Information, Iowa Department of Natural Resources

    Google Scholar 

  • Young GA, Rudkin DM, Dobrzanski EP, Robson SP, Cuggy MB, Demski MW, Thompson DP (2012) Great Canadian Lagerstätten 3. Late Ordovician Konservat-Lagerstätten in Manitoba. Geosci Can 39:201–213

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The project was funded by NSF grants EAR 0921245 and EAR 0922054. We are grateful to Tiffany Adrain of the University of Iowa Paleontology Repository, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, for specimen curation. We thank Rodney Feldman and three anonymous referees for their comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    James C. Lamsdell & Derek E. G. Briggs

  2. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Derek E. G. Briggs

  3. Iowa Geological Survey, IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, 340 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Huaibao P. Liu & Robert M. McKay

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa, 121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Brian J. Witzke

Authors
  1. James C. Lamsdell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Derek E. G. Briggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Huaibao P. Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Brian J. Witzke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Robert M. McKay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James C. Lamsdell.

Additional information

Communicated by: Sven Thatje

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1

Nexus file comprising phylogenetic matrix and character list (NEX 54 kb)

Online Resource 2

Full strict consensus tree with branch supports (PDF 301 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lamsdell, J.C., Briggs, D.E.G., Liu, H.P. et al. A new Ordovician arthropod from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa (USA) reveals the ground plan of eurypterids and chasmataspidids. Sci Nat 102, 63 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1312-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1312-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation